Day 10 - Sunday April 14 - Wall, Gethsemane, River Jordan, Qumran, Dead Sea

This morning we could finally go to the foot of the Western Wall corner Southern Wall. You then walk down the street underneath the wall that people walked through, a bit the most expensive "shopping street" in Jerusalem in the first century, with the imposing wall of the temple grounds on one side and apparently spaces to sell wares on the other.

Then to the Garden of Gethsemane, with very beautiful many centuries old olive trees. Gethsemane comes from Gat Shmanim which means oil press. There was an olive oil factory here in the time of Jesus.

"Of course" here is also allegedly the stone on which Jesus is said to have prayed. Yes, there is a lot here that is told with full conviction to visitors but which those who tell it themselves know is all very questionable.

There are tourists who are so overwhelmed and become so extremely ecstatic from being here in these places that it is named Jerusalem Syndrome, where they even have to go to the hospital to be treated and come back "down to earth".

On our way to Eilat in the south we visited three more places. First the Jordan River where there is a good possibility that this is where Joshua crossed at the time when this small river had burst its banks, and as you can see from a photo the water is indeed sometimes much higher and impassable.

Tourists are also told that Jesus was baptised here and some more events like with the prophet Elijah going to another assignment with a chariot, all in the same place. People come from all over the world to be baptized by immersion at this place.

Qumran is the area where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, and the whole area and almost all the way to Eilat is imposing with rocks and many caves and wilderness.

As the last happening of the day, we enjoyed a relaxing moment floating in the salt water of the Dead Sea. The Jordan River flows into this sea, the deepest point on earth more than 430 meters below sea level, and it is so hot here that the water evaporates, so the river does not continue but ends here. This keeps the minerals present. Here was also the area of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Videos:
(1) The South-West corner of the outer wall of the temple grounds in four parts. This corner was also where the trumpet was blown by the priests. Note how large the largest stone is, and the remains of the bridge over which the crowd walked, and the spaces for the shops, all on the Western side, and the last part of the video is the Southern side. (2) Gethsemane with the many centuries old olive trees (but not from the time of Jesus, because the Romans had cut down all the trees in the area to put a "wall" around Jerusalem so no one could escape) (3) Qumran.

Photos:
(1) Gethsemane, (2) view from Gethsemane on the temple grounds, (3) the Jordan River, not too impressive, but (4) this river can burst its banks as happened in the time of Joshua, see in the photo how high the water was on January 13, 2013, (5) Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, (6) floating on the very mineral-rich waters of the Dead Sea, (7) this whole section, the Dead Sea and surrounding area, is the lowest point on earth, some 430 meters below sea level.